Have prepared version 2.1.0 now - it's ready to release, but I will wait for permission from Adventuron before updating as the changes could be considered more than just tweaking.
Font/sentences/walls of text - I have taken this on board and used \n to break up the text in the intro. (I had already done this for the ending - did you still find the text hard to read?)
What verb(s) did you use where 'rival' didn't work in the warmup area? I had coded the synonym manually rather than doing a straightforward alias because there are lots of goblins and I didn't want the player to be able to 'talk rival' successfully in the presence of a different goblin.
With the coins - the adjectives are included in the object IDs (silver_coin and gold_coin) so I'm not sure why 'examine silver coin' etc. isn't working. I've coded 'examine silver' and 'examine gold' in manually for the new version (had already done that for 'give').
Ice cream - I was sure I had decided on 'icecream' to avoid a response of longer than six words, but I can't find such a response now! Have changed all instances in text to 'ice cream'.
Hurdles response - this was due to an issue with the object IDs for the officials. Fixed for the new version.
Shoes remaining worn/unworn when springs attached/removed - have fixed this for the new version.
With the 'dead heat' messages, this was because I was unsure if players would understand why the official had seemingly not declared a result after an event took place. After feedback from a playtester, I had already reprogrammed this so that the message isn't triggered if you've left the event and returned. I have now reprogrammed again so that it only happens the first time you fail an event, but I'm a little concerned that players will now be confused about what's going on when the official shakes their head. As such, I've now added responses for the additional command 'ask official' so that players can still get clarification about the dead heat if necessary.
For the new version, I have now removed all the rigmarole around talking to the officials, as I hear your concerns about it being repetitive. Like with the 'dead heat' messages, I had included those aspects so that players would be sure what was going on. Again, I'd be keen to hear what other people think about possible player confusion here.
I have also now removed the first yes/no question from the coach hint system. I had maybe got overly attached to that because the 'no' response had made one of my playtesters laugh.
Hope this mitigates a few of your concerns.